


Doctor's Orders

by CoffeeJay



Category: Katana ZERO (Video Game)
Genre: Among Other Mental Illnesses Because Let's Be Real Zero Has So Many, Character Study, Depression, Gen, Homicidal Ideation, Light Angst, One Shot, pre-game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 15:18:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19022569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoffeeJay/pseuds/CoffeeJay
Summary: Zero gets the day off.





	Doctor's Orders

_ There isn’t any work for you today, I’m afraid.  Perhaps you should use the time off to rest and relax.  Just remember to avoid speaking with anybody unless absolutely necessary.  With your fragile mental state-- _

The psychiatrist paused.

_ Actually, it might be best for you to just have a quiet day in. _

The line went dead the next moment.  Avoid speaking with anybody, he’d suggested.  It was laughable, really, that he had even felt the need to remind him.  The only people who ever spared him any words either expected his money or wanted to insult him.  Sometimes both.

Not that he cared.

If he was lonely, it didn’t matter.  There was no use complaining about it.  With his job, it was impossible to have friends.  He could have acquaintances, maybe. The man who brought him pizza, the woman with the graveyard shift at the convenience store, the man at the movie-rental place-- they were all the friends he needed.

It didn’t matter that they didn’t even know his name.

He didn’t know it, either.

They called him Zero.  It fit, he supposed. Zero, like the amount he remembered of his past.  Zero, like the number of people he was ever allowed to leave alive. Zero, like the amount he cared about anything at all.  Zero, empty, null.

Any attempt to make friends would be pointless.  His psychiatrist had told him that his Third-District housing was only temporary.  He had promised to move him as soon as he could make the arrangements. He had promised it many times, in fact, over the years.

Zero had the money to move to a nicer part of the Third-District, if any place in the Third-District could be labelled ‘nice’.  They paid him well enough. He didn’t spend much money, either. Mostly, he ate. Even that was scant. He rented movies on occasion.  If anybody ever managed to rob him, they would leave satisfied, assuming they managed to find the hole in the couch where stuffed his cash at the end of the day.

He could rent a movie today, he considered.  He could rent two. He could get a soda from the vending machine on the first floor, order a pizza, have himself a quiet day in, just like the doctor ordered.

He could go to the casino and keep gambling until-- Well, it wasn’t really gambling, he thought.  Not when he knew the outcomes. He could bleed every machine dry.  It was really more like robbery.

He could go commit an actual robbery.  The convenience store at the corner of the street seemed to be popular for that.  He was sure he could get away with it. It would be an interesting change of pace to try to avoid spilling any blood for once.  Maybe it would give him a thrill if he took his sword with him and didn't have to run anybody through with it.  Maybe it wouldn't.  Hardly anything made him feel anything.  There was always killing.  Whatever that made him feel, he wasn't sure he could call it a thrill, but it made him feel _something_ , at least.  Something other than numb.  Even the worst feelings had to be better than nothingness.

Whatever he decided, he knew he could spill all the blood he wanted as long as he didn’t get caught. And he wouldn’t get caught. And it wouldn’t matter if he did.  He just preferred not to.

He didn’t really want to kill anybody today, either.  After all, why should he work on his day off?

Maybe it really was for the best if he just stayed inside.


End file.
